About this Site

Emilie Davis was an African-American woman living in Philadelphia during the U.S. Civil War. This website is a transcription of Emilie’s three pocket diaries for the years 1863, 1864, and 1865. In them, she recounts black Philadelphians’ celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, nervous excitement during the battle of Gettysburg, and their collective mourning of President Lincoln. The diary allows readers to experience the war in real time, as events unfolded for Civil War Americans. Read More...

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February 15-17, 1863

Sunday, February 15, 1863.

very dull day i went to church in the afternoon we had quite a milatary sermon after church we went to see Barker and aunt Jane she is quite sick Bible class at nellies it

Monday 16

was very nice but we did not read enough and let out too soon very beutiful day we had no school st tomas concert cam off tonight i did not go Nellie bake din

Tuesday 17

ner with me yesterday quite a remarkable occourence meeting at mrs riners very stormy showering all day very few were there in consequence

Annotation 1

Aunt Jane appears to be Isaac’s sister and Emilie’s aunt. Two Jane Davis’ identified in the 1860 census are likely prospects. One Jane Davis is listed as “colored” in the 1860 census at eighty-seven years old (ninety in 1863), living alone in the 14th ward. Another Jane Davis, also “colored,” is seventy years old (seventy-three years old in 1863), living with Joseph and Mary Boland in the 5th ward. Year: 1860; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 14 Division 2, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1164; Page: 513; Image: 519; Family History Library Film: 805164. Year: 1860; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 5 Southern Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1155; Page: 536; Image: 542; Family History Library Film: 805155.

Annotation 2

Church choirs organized and held fundraising concerts. According to the Recorder the concert Emilie mentions here attracted a large crowd, as “many could not gain admittance.” The entertainment included “singing, and solos, assisted by a melodeon, flute, bass violeine, and … a fiddle.” The hall apparently became “so warm that we were almost suffocated,” but, thankfully, a “Mrs. Wilkins” provided ice cream, “which revived us greatly.” St. Thomas (African) Protestant Episcopal Church was located at Adelphi and Fifth Streets, between Locust and Walnut. “Exhibition at St. Thomas’ Church on Last Monday Night,” The Christian Recorder, February 21, 1863. Catto, A Semi-Centenary Discourse, 107.